Quickest way to convert to image

Hi,





I'm using Marvin to transfer mol files or smiles strings to an image format (preferably emf), and it takes a couple of seconds to load the file and then convert it to an image. Right now I’ve tried using the molconverter.bat and the SimpleConverter.java example and both seem to take 2-5 seconds. Is there a quicker way to do this conversion? I’m doing this on the fly in the background and I don’t really want the user to have to wait that amount of time to view the image.





Thanks,


Jack

Both MolConverter and SimpleConverter use the same API. To speed up conversion, I can suggest the followings:


- Specify input format (to skip format recognition) at molecule import.


- Prefer wireframe mode (drawing balls are expensive operation in ball and stick mode).


- Use monocrome coloring. (Drawing half colored bonds requires more time.)


- Switch off antialiasing ("noantialias") for faster line drawing.

If you run molconvert.bat or SimpleConverter.java as a standalone program, most time is spent by starting the JVM and to load the necessary classes. If you often need to convert molecules very fast, you can save these initialization times by running a server-like program in the background and communicate with it another way than command line.